Student Formative Assessment Tools

A big part of the PYP is reflection and students taking ownership for their learning. 

I was battling with how to monitor students knowledge of multiplication strategies and times table facts throughout our UOI. 

I talk a lot with my students about learning together and supporting each other as maths learners. It is important that you build a strong supportive learning culture before you ask students to share their learning with their peers. 

I also discuss that different strategies are used for different purposes. I don't want my students to think that the 'best' maths student is the one who can recall all their multiplication facts the quickest. 

I tell my kids this story...

"I don't group you into groups of 5 then using my knowledge of 5x4 = 20 +1 = 21 to count how many students are here today. I skip count. Does that make me bad at maths?"

I want my students to have a range of strategies available to use in different situations. 

SO....

I created a 'strategy line' and after posing a problem, I asked students to come and write what strategies they are using. I encouraged them to add their name to more than one. I also asked them to explain why they put their name at certain strategies and to reflect on how they solved problems.

Here are the students responses. 

Strategy Reflection Line

T Chart to show what facts they feel they need to work on. 

Of course this is just one tool I use for assessing where my students are at. This combined with diagnostic interviews and conferences with students allows me to understand where my students are at and where I need to take them.